The Dentist and a Boy

by Paul Kelly

  “Get away with you. You’re having me on. Short trousers went out with the Arc. How old did you say you were?” asked Mrs. Bright and Reggie laughed

  “About the same age as the Arc, I would say. There’s a taxi driver calling for you Mrs. Bright. I see a man signaling for you. I’ll see you again as soon as I’ve seen William. Bye for now and do take care. Oh by the way, I don’t suppose I could address your son as Billy or Bill, could I? It sounds very formal calling him William.”

  “Bye Mr. Gardner. You could try, but I don’t guarantee you’ll get anywhere but whatever you do, don’t call him Willie or he won’t answer at all ... Oh and don’t forget I told you he was slow when he speaks and he does stutter from time to time, haven’t I? He started that stuttering lark when his father died, he did.”

  “Yes, you have told me several times, Mrs. B … Goodbye.” said Gardner, but the buxom lady wasn’t sure she had told the police officer all she should have told him and was about to speak again when Reggie put his hand in the air … “Several times, I do assure you” he said again and raised his eyebrows as William’s mother waddled out from the police station, glancing back as she wiggled her tongue around her mouth in confusion.

  “Who the bloody ‘ell does ‘e think ‘e is…?”

  Chapter Three

  REGGIE GARDNER was about to light a cigarette as he sat waiting for William to appear in the interview room, but a policeman standing by, raised his eyebrows and shook his head as he pointed to the ‘NO SMOKING’ sign above his head.

  “The prisoner will be here in a minute, Sir,” said the policeman as he pointed to the NO SMOKING sign above Gardner’s head and within seconds young William Bright appeared. Reggie stood up as William came towards him. He was expecting perhaps a smile or some form of recognition, but there was nothing. William appeared as his mother said he would and sat down.

  “I’m Reggie Gardner, Mr. Bright and I’m here just to ask you a few questions ... as a police officer of course …not a solicitor or anything like that, but I might be able to clear the way for you to answer some awkward questions when later you get into court, alright?”

  William stared at Reggie without the flicker of an eyelid and only a slight movement of his lips gave the interrogator any suggestion that he had heard what had been said.

  Reggie repeated his statement, but with the same response and fully aware that the young man had a stutter and that he would have to be patient.

  “Mr. Bright,” he went on, “I’m here to help you and if you don’t try to help me to help you, you may find yourself going to prison for quite a long time.”

  William Bright stared at Reggie again without saying a word and Reggie was beginning to get impatient with the delay, which he found exasperating …

  “Mr. Bright ... May I call you William or is there ... is there any other way that you would like me to address you?” he stammered and hoped that the young man who sat in front of him didn’t think he was taking the Mickey.

  Again William stared into space but after a few seconds he moved his lips.

  “I don’t… n ... n ... n ... need your help,” he muttered and closed his eyes as if to say that was the end of the matter and Reggie could go if he wished, but Reggie Gardner had been warned by William’s mother what it would be like to interview her son and although he found the interview very trying, he half expected the results he got.

  “But you don’t understand, William. You will HAVE to answer many questions in court whether you like to do so or not, so I suggest you’d better start now, where I’m making no notes and don’t have a tape recorder or anything with me and I want you to feel free.”

  “I have … n ... n ... nothing to say in co ... co ...court,” said William slowly, “You can go now if you wish. I ... I ... I don’t need a police officer or a sol ... solicitor or anyone ... any ... any ... anyone else to help me. Do you understand?”

  “But you could be in serious trouble boy. Do you understand THAT?” snapped Reggie and William stared back again.

  “The court … sess ... sess ... session will be short and to ... to ... the point. I have nothing to say.”

  “That may be alright for you to say that now, but when you are in court, things will be different and if you don’t take advice now you could find yourself with a charge of guilty and then whether you speak or not, it won’t matter. Now be sensible and let me help you here and now.”

  The legs of William’s chair grinded against the hard polished floor as he made an attempt to leave the room, but a policeman standing by put his arm on the prisoner’s arm and made him sit down again. Reggie nodded his appreciation to the officer and wished he could light a cigarette. That would have made everything so much easier and even easier still if the prisoner himself smoked, but the notice above Gardner’s head would not go away and he had to adhere to the rules.

  “Alright Smartass,” snapped Reggie, feeling somewhat guilty himself for the attitude he was taking, but the silent response from William Bright was becoming tiresome. “Keep quiet if you will but I won’t be back here again for quite some time, if at all ... so you had better make the best of what I can do for you now when you have the chance.”

  William made a shuffling noise with his mouth and his lips quivered.

  “I am guilty,” he said slowly but clearly and without any stammer. “I need no defense. The verdict is simple and I don’t want to waste any time...”

  Reggie Gardner stared back at the prisoner in disbelief. Here was a young man ... a very upright, clean looking young man who was willing to throw his life away and for what?

  William’s answer intrigued him. There was no sniveling; no indecision ... no doubts, no stuttering, but Reggie wasn’t satisfied with the answer he received.

  “Do you mean to tell me that you are willing to go to prison without a fair trial, which you are entitled to have?”

  William nodded.

  “But this woman; the woman who has accused you of killing her lover ... Surely you must want to defend yourself against that accusation?”

  “This woman ... has ... has ... only told the truth. I did kill a man. I ... I ... I am guilty, I tell you.”

  “This man that you say you killed ... was he Mrs. Broomfield’s lover?”

  William blushed when Reggie said that and there was an obvious embarrassment in the boy’s eyes.

  “You will have to ask ,,, h … h … her that. I don’t know anything about th … th ... that at all,” he said as Gardner continued,

  “But this woman is YOUR lover, isn’t she? She could have been your mother, as she was ... IS twice your age. How ever did you get into this situation? Did she seduce you? Did you screw her?” William sat in silence again but his eyes were wild, as Reggie continued to interrogate him. “Did you hear what I said, boy? Did you screw her? Did you fuck her?”

  Reggie Gardner was losing his patience and he knew that was the very thing he should never do. He was using language that he knew he never should be using, but he thought it might be the best way for William Bright to understand what he was getting at ... William closed his eyes for a few moments before he spoke and his words were clear without the slightest trace of a stammer for the second time. The words came out very slowly.

  “I never screwed or fucked anyone as you have so crudely suggested…” he said … “I made …l …love to the lady…did you hear that BOY,” he demanded and Gardner looked back at him in shock… Well, I asked for that, he thought and didn’t think the boy had it in him. He looked so intelligent ... so bloody pure …this tiger.

  “Look I don’t want to keep calling you William. That sounds so bloody formal. Surely you must have been called something other than that at home, for example. What about Bill or Billy?” Gardner avoided the Willie inference, as he knew the reaction he would get to that ... “What did your mother call you?
”

  William sat still and lowered his eyes.

  “Well ... I asked you a question. What did your mother call you?”

  “My mother called me … m ... m ... many things, most of which I would r ... r ... rather not mention,” was the reply.

  “But surely with a mother’s love, she must have had some pet name for her only son ... Surely.”

  William clenched his teeth and bared his knuckles.

  “I … n ... n ...never had a mother ... not as you would know a m ... m ... mother to be …” he said and Gardner was stunned at the reply. This was not what Bertha Bright had told him when he had seen her earlier. She had done EVERYTHING for her son ... or so she said.

  “What about a girlfriend then?” Gardner prompted with the knowledge that Bertha Bright had given him but William lowered his head again and shook it gently.

  “You’re not gay, are you?”

  With that remark, William shot his head into the air and blushed.

  “No ... I am not g...g... gay, Sir and I ... I ... I resent that remark when I told you that I made ...made love to m ... m ... my lady. I hardly … th …th … think I would do … th…th…that if I was what you think I might be …”

  “No offence meant, but what should I call you?”

  William sighed and ran his tongue across his lips.

  “William,” he said, “Everyone calls me W ... W ... William,” and at that point in the conversation the officer standing nearby announced that the interview would have to break up for lunch.

  “Prison lunches are not as bad as I had imagined,” said Gardner, after having returned from his frugal meal and trying to patronize in the kindest way, but William only snorted and shook his head as Gardner continued with his questions. “Can I ask you how long you’ve known this woman ... this lady?”

  “Two years,” answered the young man without hesitation.

  “You must have been about ... about nineteen then when you first met. Am I right?”

  William nodded, but he looked sad. It seemed to him that every memory of the past few years had been blotted out by the latest events.

  “Meet her at a club then, did you?”

  William did not seem to hear what Gardner had said and the policeman repeated the question, but William shook his head in answer and Gardner tried another approach

  “Dance perhaps?”

  But there was another shake of the head and Garner felt he was getting nowhere fast.

  “Can you tell me where and how then? I’m very interested to know.”

  William stared into Gardner’s eyes.

  “I don’t … th ... th ... th ... think it is any business of yours or any ... any ... anyone else,” was the answer. “It is of … n ... n ... no consequence.”

  “It may have a bearing on what has happened recently. Can’t you see that?” snapped Gardner as William played with his fingers as if he was counting something. There was a long silence in the room and Gardner wondered what was going to come next as he watched William twiddle his fingers nervously.

  “It was one …d ... d ... day when my mother was out for a …sp ... sp ... spree with one of her many …b ... b ... b ... boyfriends,” he said slowly and added, with a nod of the head that he had to speak slowly to avoid the stutter and Gardner nodded back his approval, but he was more than surprised at the goings on of Bertha Bright. She was a pleasant enough woman, but she was no oil painting and this wasn’t the story he picked up from the dear lady herself where she said she was always on the go and never had a minute to herself and then he remembered how she had said that she only had the evenings to herself after a hard days work and he wondered what sort of an evening’s pleasure she meant ... “I had a few days off ... from the ... the ... su ... su ...supermarket where I work and I decided to go down to … S ... Sou ... Southend for the day ... ” William continued and looked about him at this juncture in the conversation as if in his mind he was reliving the event. “It was … v ... v ... very wet when I got there ... but ... but the day had ... had started off well. The sun was sh... sh ... shining when I set off,” he went on and Gardner nodded enthusiastically. At last he was getting somewhere.

  “Go on,” Gardner said to William as he leant forward to encourage him to talk. “Tell me in your own good time. There’s no rush ... just whenever you’re ready.”

  “I had no money for the ... the ... train ... home and I decided as the … w ... w ... weather was so bad, I would have to th ... th ... thumb a lift into London. I had a travel ticket on ... on the… b ...b ... buses in London for that week and I ... I ... I ... knew if I could just get into London, I would… g ... g ... get a bus home. Either that or …I ... I ... could ... tr ... tr ... travel on the underground.”

  “Yes and what happened then?”

  William looked tired by this time and rubbed his eyes with his clenched fists.

  “Lorries and cars ... pass ... pass ... passed me and soaked me with the …r ... r ... rain spray as I stood in the lay by. Then suddenly a… mo ... mo ... mo ... motorbike appeared from behind one of … th ... th ... these lorries. The guy on the … b ... b ...bike must have seen me … th ... th ... thumbing a … l ... l ... l ...lift, as he ... he stopped in the lay by and …b ... b ... beckoned me to get on the …p … p … pillion.”

  “Yes, yes and then what happened?”

  “ Well, at first I … di ...di ... didn’t … f ... f ... fancy… getting on a… mo ... mo ... motor bike in that weather, b ... b ... bu ... but the guy had stopped for me. He must have seen me thumbing a lift and… I ... I ... got on and we drove off with him …sh ... sh ... sh ...shouting from his seat that he was going into London… to M ... M ... Mus ... Muswell Hill and …I ... sh ... sh ... sh ... shouted back that would be ... fine for me. I hung on for my dear life as… I ... I ... couldn’t see a thing and I just had to …t ... t ... trust this man ... as we bowled along, sw ... sw ...swerving everywhere to avoid the… p ... p ... pu ... puddles that had gathered in the streets.”

  William suddenly stopped talking and looked about his as if he had felt he had spoken too much, but Gardner touched his arm gently and urged him to go on…

  “ I had …n ... n ... never known weather like it,” he continued in a daze, “and I was becoming… v ... v ... very nervous on the back of th ... th ... that bike. We were …s ... s ... soon drenched.”

  “I understand that and so you got to Muswell Hill and what happened then?”

  “The guy told me as he… pa ... pa ...par ... parked his bike that he lived on the th ... th ... third floor flat of the nearby… b ... b ... building and he would like to have a ho ... ho ... hot coffee, or something… and would …I ... would I ... would I like to join him.”

  “Yes?”

  “Well I knew my… m ... m ... m ... mother wouldn’t be waiting for me and I was soaked to the …sk ... sk ... skin, so I agreed and went up to a … f ... f ... f ...flat. It was on the …th ... th ... third floor.

  “You were very trusting weren’t you, when you didn’t know this man from Adam?” said Gardner as he was beginning to think William’s story was a bit thin and was leading him nowhere, but then suddenly he got the surprise of his life as William went on.

  “I went into the …f ... f ... flat and this g ... g ... guy told me that he would just nip into ... into the bathroom and change into some… d ... d ... dry clothes ... and su ... su ... suggested I could dry myself off too as he …f ... f ... f ... flung me a towel. I started to dry my hair and… t ... t ... took my jacket off.”

  “Yes,” demanded Gardner as the picture was getting a little clearer but he was tired of the stuttering, which he realized he would have to accept as William went on.

  “When this guy came out… f ... f ...from ... from ... from the bathroom, just as I was slipping … m… m ... m ... my shirt over my ... h ... h
ead, he only had a dressing gown on. I could see he had… sh ... sh ... short, fair hair and as he dried it with a… t ... t ... towel, his d ... d ... dressing gown fell down.”

  “Yes ... Yes ... go on,” Gardner snapped impatiently, as William swallowed hard and looked around the room, making Gardner even more impatient. “Well, what happened then ... when this guy came out from the bathroom and his dressing gown fell down?” Gardner grunted angrily with an eager look in his eye and William gulped. He coughed as if to clear his throat and looked into Gardner’s eyes before he spoke.

  “It wasn’t …a … g ... g ... guy at all. It was a … w ... w ... w ... woman.” he choked and closed his eyes.

  Chapter Four

  REGGIE GARDNER looked blank for a moment as he recollected his thoughts and muttered aloud, but his reasoning was taking him haywire …

  “Southend ... wet evening ... Muswell Hill ... Not a man but a woman ...My God … what next?” he asked himself as he rubbed his forehead gently with the palm of his hand and stared back at William. “A woman?” he asked again and William nodded. “A naked woman ... and you just dried your hair?” Gardner went on as he scratched his head in confusion. William nodded and swallowed again …

  “Well, you’re either very naive or bloody daft, mate. That’s all I can say, but I’d like to hear more ... just whenever you’re ready.”

  William smiled almost cordially and Reggie Gardner sighed with relief as his interrogation continued with William adding more to his story.

  “This was the … w ... w ... w ... woman that I met for the first time that evening and the same … w ... w ... woman that I ... I ... I fell in love with … al ... al ... almost immediately.”

  Gardner stared at William Bright as if he was looking at him for the first time.“Now I’m gonna ask you again, William and I want a straight answer, understand … and don’t bugger me about …”

  William nodded reluctantly as Reggie went on. “Did this woman seduce you that evening? Now you do know what I mean by that, don’t you? Did she initiate sex in the first place?”